Maine State Music Theatre to Celebrate Music Legend Patsy Cline This June

The nationally regarded Maine State Music Theatre celebrates music legend and cross-over sensation Patsy Cline, June 7 - 24. The touching true story, Always... Patsy Cline combines humor, heartache and 27 of Patsy's most unforgettable hits, such as "Crazy," "Walkin' After Midnight," "Sweet Dreams," and more.

Based on a touching true story affectionately told through letters written between Patsy and her biggest fan turned confidant, Louise Segar, Always... Patsy Cline takes audiences through the ups and downs, from her breakthrough on live radio, to her rise to fame at the Grand Ole Opry.

The production stars Christine Mild as Patsy Cline. Mild has previously played Cline in 8 other productions and starred in MSMT's CATS in 2005. She appeared in Broadway's Chance and Chemistry: A Tribute to Frank Loesser alongside Paul McCartney. Other credits include the world-premiere musical Love Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein by Tony Award-winning team Galati and Flaherty, along with many regional credits including Marta in Company, Rhetta Cupp in Pump Boys and Dinettes, and appearing in Sister Act, Evita, Cats, 9 to 5, Pirates of Penzance, Beaches and others. She has a solo album "Love Is Everything" and performs regularly with her band "Martin & Mild."

Reprising her role as Louis Segar, MSMT alumna Charis Leos returns to the Pickard. Leos most recently starred in the hit co-production last summer of The Irish...and How They Got That Way with MSMT and Portland Stage. Other credits at MSMT include Rose in Gypsy, Georgie in The Full Monty, Mdm. Thenardeir in Les Misérables, Eulalie in The Music Man, and Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein. Other regional credits include productions at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Theatre Under the Stars, North Shore Music Theater, Maltz Jupiter, the Fulton Theatre and many others. Her performing credits also include Comedy Clubs, Las Vegas showrooms, performance with symphonies, live industrial shows and was a featured performer in Broadway Backwards for four years in a row.

Standby for Patsy Cline and Louise Seger is Heidi Kettenring. Kettenring most recently starred as Vi Moore in MSMT's 2014 production of Footloose. Other MSMT credits include Milly in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Fantine in Les Misérables, Electra in Gypsy, and Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins. She toured the U.S. in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Chicago credits include Nessa in Wicked with Broadway in Chicago, Joan la Pucelle, Queen Elizabeth in Tug of War: Foreign Fire and Civil Strife at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Nancy in Oliver at Drury Lane Oakbrook, Anna in The King and I at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, winning a Joseph Jefferson Award. Film and television credits include Man of Steel, Chicago Fire and Cupid.

The creative team for the production includes Marc Robin (Fulton's Executive Artistic Producer and Co-Director of the production), Curt Dale Clark (Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director and Co-Director of the production), Patrick Fanning (Music Director), WilLiam James Mohney (Scenic Designer), Matthew DeMascolo (Lighting Designer) Brittany Leffler (Costume Designer), Anthony Lascoskie, Jr. (Wig Designer), Shannon Slaton (Sound Designer), Katelin Walsko (Props Designer), Mark Johnson (Production Stage Manager), and Stephanie Dupal (Maine State Music Theatre's Managing Director).

Maine State Music Theatre's season sponsors are Highland Green and Oceanview at Falmouth. Always...Patsy Cline is sponsored by AAA Energy Service, Austin Associates, Lebel & Harriman LLP, and Topsham Fair Mall.

All of MSMT's performances take place at the Pickard Theater on the campus of Bowdoin College located at 1 Bath Road in Brunswick. For more information, and to buy tickets, visit www.msmt.org or call the Box Office at (207) 725-8769.

Always...Patsy Cline was created by Ted Swindley in Houston, Texas in 1988. Swindley wanted to present a production featuring Cline's music, but he did not want it to just be a typical musical revue or a biography on the singer's life. He sought a local slant on the show and discovered an interview with a Houston housewife, Louise Seger, in a Cline biography. Within the interview, he discovered information about countless letters written between Seger and Cline up until the night of her death in 1963. Always... Patsy Cline is told through the heartfelt and hilarious memories of Louise from the time they met at Houston's Esquire Ballroom to when Louise hears of Patsy's untimely passing at age thirty. After many productions in the early 90s around the southern part of the U.S., Always... Patsy Cline successfully ran Off-Broadway in 1997. It is one of the top 10 most produced shows with performances in the U. S., Australia, the UK and Ireland, and has rarely been produced in the St. Louis region.

Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Henley on September 8, 1932 in Winchester, Virginia. She was known for helping to break down the gender barrier in country music and received her first recording contract in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, Cline joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee and successfully "crossed over" to pop music with several of her songs. Cline remains as relevant today as she was over fifty years ago. Her legacy as one of the greatest singers of all time continues to resonate among audiences of all ages. In 2005 her album, Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits, was listed as the Longest-Charting Title by a Female Artist in the Guinness Book of World Records, with over 10 million records sold.

Pictured: Christine Mild as Patsy Cline. Always...Patsy Cline. Maine State Music Theatre. Photo by Kinectiv.

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